Written Answers Friday 18 July 2008

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13596 by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 June 2008, what effect the monthly review of mileage rates payable by the Scottish Ambulance Service to volunteer drivers has had to date on rates.

Shona Robison: This is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service. They have advised that the June review of mileage rates did not result in an increase, as the service remain satisfied that the rates cover costs.

Ambulance Service

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many volunteer drivers have been available to the Scottish Ambulance Service in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Shona Robison: The following table details the number of volunteer ambulance car drivers since 2004, broken down by NHS board area. Information is not held for the years prior to 2003-04.

  

 NHS Board
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08


 Argyll and Clyde#
 18
 18
 0
 0
 0


 Ayrshire and Arran
 15
 16
 14
 11
 14


 Borders
 9
 9
 10
 10
 10


 Dumfries and Galloway
 25
 25
 21
 21
 28


 Fife 
 11
 13
 14
 12
 17


 Forth Valley 
 29
 34
 35
 35
 45


 Grampian
 19
 21
 20
 19
 19


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 47
 46
 45
 38
 42


 Highland
 57
 58
 64
 64
 88


 Lanarkshire
 28
 30
 32
 26
 29


 Lothian
 13
 11
 10
 10
 10


 Orkney
 4
 4
 2
 1
 4


 Shetland
 0
 1
 0
 0
 1


 Tayside
 28
 25
 24
 24
 27


 Western Isles
 12
 13
 14
 9
 17


 Scotland
 315
 324
 305
 280
 351



  Notes:

  *Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

  #Dissolution of NHS Argyll and Clyde – figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 included in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland.

Health

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total spend on the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme has been in each NHS board area in the last three years.

Shona Robison: The sums reimbursed to NHS boards in respect of claims submitted to the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme in each of the last three financial years were as follows:

  

 NHS Board
2005-06 (£)
2006-07 (£)
2007-08 (£)


 Argyll and Clyde
 330,398.00
 -
 -


 Ayrshire and Arran
 16,963.86
 169,909.98
 307,330.35


 Borders
 -
 210,739.15
 1,397,943.95


 Dumfries and Galloway
 -
 -
 157,678.32


 Fife
 -
 1,227,681.64
 305,583.25


 Forth Valley
 83,539.22
 1,671,479.78
 3,806,277.15


 Grampian
 248,345.50
 71,000.00
 496,991.28


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 2,578,660.79
 4,793,261.75
 2,778,296.42


 Highland
 737,254.75
 823,995.00
 3,226,756.74


 Lanarkshire
 67,381.45
 197,366.61
 327,913.56


 Lothian
 21,910.38
 8,849.84
 5,228,424.78


 Orkney
 9,218.41
 -
 -


 Shetland
 -
 -
 -


 Tayside
 361,796.96
 439,766.25
 844,395.32


 Western Isles
 -
 -
 -


 Scottish Ambulance Service
 -
 -
 50,168.21


 Totals
 4,455,469.32
 9,614,050.00
 18,927,759.33



  The figures above reflect the dates when reimbursement claims were paid to NHS boards from the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme, and not the dates when each individual case was settled.

Health

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce periodic payment orders under the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme.

Shona Robison: Periodical payments are permitted in Scotland, with the consent of both parties, under the Damages Act 1996 as amended by the Courts Act 2003. The Executive is currently considering several areas of the law on damages, including periodical payments, pending the availability of a future legislative opportunity.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the decision to retain a full accident and emergency unit at Monklands Hospital, how many intensive care unit (ITU) beds will be available; how many high dependency unit (HDU) beds will be available; what arrangements are in place for managing admission of paediatric patients through accident and emergency (A&E); what level of twenty-four hour cover there is for the orthopaedic (trauma) emergencies team, and how many beds are available for trauma cases in or what alternative arrangements are in place.

Shona Robison: Monklands Hospital has five staffed ITU beds which can flex up to six over the winter months and eight surgical HDU beds and two renal HDU beds within the site.

  Paediatric patients that self-present to A&E are assessed on arrival by A&E staff and clinical assessments are made to determine the most appropriate management plan. This may include discharge, transfer to Wishaw General Paediatric inpatient facility or transfer to the paediatric services at Yorkhill hospital. A&E staff at Monklands will, where necessary stabilize the child prior to transfer. Children referred by GPs (at any time) are taken straight to Wishaw General Hospital. Where ambulance personnel determine the patient is a paediatric emergency, the patient will also be taken directly to Wishaw General Hospital.

  Orthopaedic trauma is covered 24 hours per day. There are 30 orthopaedic trauma beds. Surgery is generally not carried out after 9pm, however, a full emergency team is available overnight to operate when required. Non-life threatening cases would be put on a "trauma" list for theatre the next day. This is in line with the national report from the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths (CEPOD) and is the same practice on all three acute hospital sites in Lanarkshire.

  In each case the service provision remains the same as it was pre-May 2007.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which hospitals offered primary angioplasty to suitable patients with a myocardial infarction in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Shona Robison: The information requested regarding primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) is given in the following table.

  

 2006-07
 2007-08


 Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
 Aberdeen Royal Infirmary


 Glasgow Royal Infirmary
 Glasgow Royal Infirmary


 Hairmyres Hospital, Lanarkshire 
 Golden Jubilee National Hospital


 Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
 Hairmyres Hospital, Lanarkshire


 Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
 Ninewells Hospital, Dundee


 Western Infirmary Glasgow
 Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh


 
 Western General Hospital, Edinburgh


 
 Western Infirmary Glasgow



  Source: Scottish Coronary Revascularisation Register.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients with a myocardial infarction received primary angioplasty in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08, also broken down by hospital.

Shona Robison: The information requested is provided in the following table.

  Number of Primary PCIs

  

 Hospital
 2006-07
 2007-08


 Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
 26
 43


 Glasgow Royal Infirmary
 64
 77


 Golden Jubilee National Hospital
 -
 18


 Hairmyres Hospital, Lanarkshire
 33
 46


 Ninewells Hospital
 -
 5


 Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
 135
 348


 Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
 29
 10


 Western Infirmary Glasgow
 95
 109


 Total
 382
 656



  Source: Scottish Coronary Revascularisation Register.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of eligible patients received thrombolytic treatment for myocardial infarction within 60 minutes of a phone call in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of hospitals or NHS boards provided thrombolytic treatment for myocardial infarction to eligible patients within 30 minutes of a phone call in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of treatment by either primary angioplasty or thrombolytic treatment being most effective within three hours of the onset of symptoms, what percentage of eligible patients were treated by either of these methods within that period in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally in the form requested.

  Progress is being made with implementation of the web-based software system, SCI-CHD-ACS, developed as part of a national initiative to capture information on patients admitted to hospital with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), including myocardial infarction. The system does not as yet cover the whole of NHSScotland, but the data which are available suggest that, in calendar year 2007, 70.3% of those who had had an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) received thrombolysis within 60 minutes of arriving at hospital.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of primary angioplasties were carried out in hospitals within 90 minutes of arrival at hospital in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Shona Robison: The information requested is not available centrally. However, a recent study of a hybrid programme of pre-hospital thrombolysis and primary PCI in NHS Lothian has demonstrated very positive results, with median ECG to primary PCI balloon times of 48 minutes.

  As a result of the NHS Lothian pilot, and in line with the recommendations in SIGN Guideline 93 on Acute Coronary Syndromes, the roll-out of primary PCI across Scotland is now being discussed by NHSScotland’s Regional Planning Groups.

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to health board for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Shona Robison: The initial allocations for each health board for 2008-09 were:

  

 NHS Boards
2008-09 £ Million


 NHS Ayrshire and Arran
 546.7


 NHS Borders
 158.9


 NHS Dumfries and Galloway
 228.1


 NHS Fife
 479.7


 NHS Forth Valley
 375.5


 NHS Grampian
 646.3


 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 1,790.9


 NHS Highland
 459.6


 NHS Lanarkshire
 760.5


 NHS Lothian
 963.0


 NHS Orkney
 29.7


 NHS Shetland
 34.9


 NHS Tayside
 566.4


 NHS Western Isles
 55.2


 NHS Boards Total
 7,095.4


 Special Health Boards
 


 Scottish Ambulance Service
 183.4


 National Services Scotland
 247.1


 NHS 24
 53.4


 The State Hospitals Board for Scotland
 33.7


 National Waiting Times Centre
 40.0


 NHS Education for Scotland
 361.7


 NHS Health Scotland
 17.3


 NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
 16.2


 Special Health Board Total
 952.8


 NHS Scotland Total
 8,048.2



  In addition to the initial general allocation, boards will have access to additional funding that will be allocated throughout the year, including a number of health priorities as set out in the Scottish Budget.

  Allocations for 2009-10 onwards have not yet been determined, as they are calculated according to a formula that will be updated at the start of each financial year. However, the total net funding earmarked for health boards in 2009-10 is £8,305.8 million and for 2010-11 is £8,571.6 million.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what caused the outbreaks of clostridium difficile at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow in October 2007 and June 2008 and how many patients contracted the disease in each case.

The Executive has supplied the following corrected answer:

Nicola Sturgeon: The cause of the outbreak in October 2007 could not be determined. The Outbreak Control team is currently reviewing the circumstances of the most recent outbreak at the Victoria Infirmary and a full report will be compiled. Six patients were affected in October 2007 and I understand that a further five patients were affected in the most recent outbreak, one of whom died on 24 June 2008. We are advised by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that clostridium difficile was a contributory factor in the patient’s death.

Justice

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) premises were visited by police forces, (b) arrests were made and (c) women were recovered as part of Operation Pentameter 1, broken down by police force area.

Kenny MacAskill: Operation Pentameter 1 took place in 2006. The available information is set out in the following table.

  

 Police Force
 No of Premises Visited
 Arrests Made
 No of Females Recovered
 No of Confirmed Victims


 Central Scotland
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Dumfries and Galloway
 0
 6
 0
 0


 Fife
 N/K
 N/K
 N/K
 0


 Grampian
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Lothian and Borders
 N/K
 N/K
 N/K
 0


 Northern
 2
 0
 0
 0


 Strathclyde
 3
 3
 4
 5*


 Tayside
 20
 3
 6
 0


 Totals
 25
 12
 10
 5



  Source: Serious Organised Crime Agency.

  Notes:

  N/K = Not known. Data not available.

  *One victim in Strathclyde was recovered after reporting an assault.

Justice

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of potential establishments were targeted as part of Operation Pentameter 1, broken down by police force area.

Kenny MacAskill: The percentage of potential premises that were targeted for Operation Pentameter 1 is subject to police operational/intelligence assessment and decision processes that need to remain confidential in order to avoid jeopardising effective law enforcement.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many school nurses there were in Scotland in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007.

Shona Robison: The following table provides the number of whole-time equivalent (WTE) school nurses in Scotland in 2005 and 2007 at September of each year. Whole-time equivalent adjusts head count figures to take account of part-time staff.

  These figures are collected by ISD Scotland. Figures for 2006 are unavailable due to the non-direct match between Whitley Council grades and new Agenda for Change grades.

  Also, the figure for 2007 may not be wholly accurate. This reflects that not all NHS staff have yet been assimilated to Agenda for Change bandings by NHS boards and there may also be anomalies with coding which means that the correct number of staff have not been identified. NHS boards are currently working through a process of cleaning up the data so that we can be assured in the future of high quality data standards.

  

 
 2005
 2007


 Number of WTE Qualified School Nurses
 305.2
 221.8

Police

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many SO19 police officers there are in Scotland and how many are currently suspended.

Kenny MacAskill: SO19 is the name given to the department which provides firearms related support to the Metropolitan Police Service, and is not a term used by the Scottish Police Service. There were 610 police officers authorised to use firearms in Scottish police forces in 2006-07, the latest period for which figures are available. Information on numbers of police officers currently suspended is not held centrally.

Prescription Charges

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to monitor the effect of the current and future reductions in prescription charges on the number of prescriptions issued.

Shona Robison: We will receive regular reports to ensure that the effects of prescription charge price reductions are effectively monitored. The report will present analysis of a range of data including prescribing trends and volume of prescriptions dispensed. We will also continue to analyse trends in Wales following the abolition of prescription charges in 2007.

Scottish Ambulance Service

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 June 2008 regarding the internal investigation of the Scottish Ambulance Service ( Official Report , c. 9259), whether it still expects to receive a report by the end of July 2008.

Shona Robison: Work is underway on the review of the performance information that is required for reporting on the category A target. A draft report will be with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the board of the Scottish Ambulance Service by 31 July, with the final report due in mid August.

Scottish Futures Trust

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the envisaged NPD approach referred to in Taking Forward the Scottish Futures Trust is a PPP.

John Swinney: The NPD approach set out in "Taking Forward the Scottish Futures Trust" is a non-profit distributing initiative.

Sexual Offences

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers work as dedicated rape and sexual offences specialists, broken down by police force.

Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally and is an operational matter for each chief constable.

Correction

The reply to question S3W-14658 which was originally answered on 8 July 2008, has been corrected: see page 3873 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-08/wa0718.htm.